Thanks to Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs and Cindy from Hyacinth Quilt Designs, I stretched myself to learn needle turn applique following Carloyn Friedlander‘s Rin Pattern. Today, I am excited to share that I was able to finish the second block and make my second pillow finish just under the wire for submitting my finishes to the final Rin finish parade that Cheryl and Cindy will host on Wednesday (the submissions were due on Sunday).
Rin Along – Second Pillow Finish
All along I had a vision of “his and hers” with my fabric pull for these blocks. My favorite color, as you well know, is blue, and my husband’s favorite color is green. The needle turn applique on “his” pillow is a bit bigger, as is his finished pillow (the seam allowance for the pillow goes close to the applique, but does not sew over it)!
Rin Along – Pillow Quilting Detail
I quilted a 1″ space grid across this pillow, to be very similar to the first but a little different (the blue pillow is quilted on a cross-hatch 45-degree angle). I used 50wt Aurifil 2692 (Black) for the needle turn applique and 50wt Aurifil 2870 (Green) for the quilting.
Rin Along – “His” Pillow Finish
I cut out the block and shapes right after my first Rin Pillow finish, but I did not baste them until I was in Cleveland filming my Fresh Quilting segments. I had intended to use the 5 hour flight home to get a lot of needle turn applique finished for the block, but life had other plans (if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have already read this story).
Flight Doodles
When I was boarding my flight, I came up to my row to find a mom wiping down the tray tables for her two oldest children. I inquired if she would want to switch me for my assigned window seat, and she quickly apologized and said that no, she needed to be in the row ahead of us with her 16-month old lap child, 2.5 year old who had a headache, and her husband. She then apologized to me for “winning the lottery” of sitting next to her children and gave them one last pep talk about what is their personal space and what is someone else’s. From there on out, I had a very fun time sitting next to her children. They were a bit nervous about flying, so I told them I used to design airplanes (“oh, so you were an engineer!”). Because they couldn’t see out the window very well, I told them when the baggage was done being loaded, when to get ready to be pushed back from the gate, and when we were lining up on the runway to take off (their 5-4-3-2-1 countdown was perfectly timed). We played Old Maid, did math puzzles, and I answered a lot of questions (“What is cancer? What would it be like to stand on the wing right now?”). In the end, 5 hours of sitting still was a bit much and really should be for any active children, but we all made it through with smiles on our faces. I did get a bit of applique started, and as a result I learned that the girl who sat on the isle’s favorite color is purple and she has a purple Janome sewing machine that she likes to use at home. The boy in the middle seat’s favorite color is gold and he thanked me quite seriously for a nice “plane date” as we were getting ready to get off the plane.
Rin Along – His and Hers Pillows
So along with having a his and hers pillow set from the RinAlong, I have some rather fond memories of my time on my flight home. Perhaps not as much sewing progress happened as I had envisioned, but hopefully they will think as fondly of their time on the flight as I will. I certainly have a fabulous finished pillow to help aid my memory.
Thank you for the wonderful quilt along, Cheryl and Cindy! I am glad I tried something new and have a new skill at my disposal as a result.
Their Mum will remember you forever!!! What a journey for that family, and you were literally a , in their eyes, ” a real cool gal”., Questions, games, fun and serious “stuff”. And now the two pillows, at least no squabbling as to which is whose? ( and is that correct grammar?).And the doodles, I love the ear with Howdy!!! So glad to see you fitting in some fun sewing. And I am so thankful you are happy with the “card” sent to Sandra, I felt it was taking a bit of a liberty not to send it to you all first, but thought getting it there was important. And not all of the ones who linked up sent a reply. Greetings from a cold and wet place down here.
I’m sure those children will remember that flight as the best and their traveling companion with fond thoughts.
I forgot to say your needle turn appl. is beautiful. Great job.
I’m sure you planted good memory seeds for those children. No sewing but sounded like you had an enjoyable flight. Lovely pillows and congrats on doing the needle turn applique.
Lovely block and a memorable airplane flight.
A great story and 2 beautiful cushions completed, and a nice reminder of a fun time xxx
It doesn’t surprise me, Yvonne, that you just embraced the situation and made the best of it. You blessed that mama in ways you may not know, and her kids will always remember you. I love the pillows, and your needleturn is looking really good!
What a great story! It is the mom who hit the lottery!
I also am diligently working on new techniques and projects, and I am thrilled with the results!
That is the cutest story!! It’s great how quilting projects are more than just a finish. When we look at them, we sometimes remember what was going on in our lives and special moments about making them. You were such a good plane date (and the pillow is gorgeous, of course!).
What a fun story about your plane ride with the little ones as travel companions! Happy to hear everyone ended the trip with smiles on their faces 😉
A cute and fun plane story! great job with your pillow!!!
The pillows look fabulous together, and, you will always treasure that plane ride. It is wonderful when we can connect with other people, even wee ones, in unexpected places and ways. You really did get the hand (I wanted to type hang but hand may be better) of the applique!
Fun story and beautiful pillows!
Beautiful pillows–terrific applique! And what a wonderful story about your airplane ride. I’ll bet their mother will be thinking good thoughts about you for ages and ages.
It sounds like a great flight Yvonne. I’m glad you had some fun time with the kids…and you managed to finish you pillow in time anyhow. Win Win.
Those kids will always remember the lady in the plane who used to build planes . And also spent the time to play card games and chat . And their parents will have been so relieved they “got you” . Happy 4th July x
Your pillows look great together! Love those back text prints.
Both pillows are so pretty. My favorite color is also green. ‘Love those fabrics.
Great pillow! I really like the simple quilting and the geometric texture it adds!
Lovely story, Yvonne: you care clearly the sort of person every parent hopes to meet while travelling and your ‘plane date’ sounds like fun. As for your applique, it looks great and I’d never have guessed you were stretching yourself to try this.
Your pillows are awesome. You’ve done two, and I haven’t even started yet. The pattern is on my cutting table, but sadly, I didn’t make any further progress. Some day……
What a fabulous story! Sounds like you really *did* win the seat lottery–sounds like you had two great kids. Your Rin pillows look great!
I commented on your IG when you mentioned the “plane date” but reading this post today after a looooong flight from Seattle to Houston yesterday with my 2 kids, I have to say that your presence probably felt like a magical fairy godmother to that mom!! 🙂